Hello!
I am seeking advice on how to best prepare for an upcoming shoot where I'll be focus pulling with the ARRI Master Anamorphic Lenses (35mm, 50mm & 75mm). This is my first time focus pulling with these lenses, and anamorphic lenses all together and I want to make sure I am fully prepared to do my job right. I am still relatively new to focus pulling (less than 2 years experience) and would greatly appreciate some advice to help me through this shoot. I have been reading the forums about anamorphic lenses but I have yet to find specific info on the Master Anamorphics. My questions are:
1) How do I measure focus when there is an arc in the focus plane. I read that if a subject is 6ft away and the lens is set to 6ft, then the subject will be soft. Is there an equation for calculating the distance from the lens plane, to the subject while taking the arc of the anamorphic lens into account?
2) Does the iPhone app PCam help camera assistants with these sorts of calculations? (If so, looks like I will finally be buying that app!)
3) When shooting at T1.9, do these lenses breath in a distracting way? Meaning if I'm racking focus at T1.9 and I happen to miss a mark, will it be extremely obvious because of the breathing effect?
4) We will be shooting in the middle of the desert during the day & night, so does anyone have any tips in regards to the difference in pulling focus wide open vs. fully closed down on these lenses?
I am still not 100% sure if I am asking the correct questions and ALL of the questions that I need answered in order to be prepared. But I would really appreciate any advice that you can offer to a camera kid just starting out in the business. Merci beaucoup! :D